Ginseng and Familiar Faces
by Convenient Alias
Summary: When Azula bumps into Zuko for the first time in six years, it's in a prosperous teashop in Ba Sing Se. It's a bit disorienting because he's supposed to be dead. AU, oneshot.


The first time Azula saw Zuko in six years, she bumped into him in a tea shop.

The Jasmine Dragon, it was called. A nice establishment in the upper rings of Ba Sing Se. It had a marvelous reputation for both tea and service, and she had intended to go to it for ages before she finally did.

It was not the best day for her. It was nearing the three year anniversary of the Fire Nation takeover of Ba Sing Se (her takeover of Ba Sing Se, honestly: She did it nearly singlehandedly) and there had been riots and unease all over the city for the past week. And she knew there would be assassination attempts, more than usual at least, but that was what the Dai Li were for and she was trying not to get too stressed about it.

Father gave her this post because she had earned it. Father gave her this post so that she could learn about how to be a ruler in a world that hated you.

And she was trying so hard to make him proud, trying so hard to maintain control, keep up appearances, be the ruler he wanted her to be. But it was so difficult. Sometimes, she just needed to relax.

So she was just going to walk down to the Jasmine Dragon like she'd been intending to for months, ever since one of the Joo Dees had mentioned it, and she was going to see if the ambiance and the tea were as relaxing as everyone claimed. Perhaps she would even find a cute serving boy.

Yeah, right.

(She didn't tell Ty Lee or Mai where she was going. They would insist on coming too, and while often they were excellent stress relief, recently they made her feel guilty. Ty Lee had been mentioning the circus more and more often, and some days Mai just didn't talk. If she'd known they were going to be like this, she would never have recruited them for hunting down the Avatar in the first place.)

Jasmine Dragon smelled less like jasmine tea than ginseng, which she could still recognize even though Uncle hadn't tried to push any on her in six years. He hadn't been seen since news of Zuko's death had come in, four years prior. Azula didn't know if it was because he had been killed as well, shortly afterwards, or if because he had taken Zuko's death too hard and decided to vanish into the background.

She sighed. If that was it, if he had decided court life was too much, she wasn't sure she didn't agree.

The table in the corner seemed the nicest choice to her. It was only a little ways away from a window. Better yet, no one was sitting remotely near it. She didn't want anyone recognizing the Fire Nation governor of Ba Sing Se, not with the week she'd been having. Usually people didn't recognize her when she was wearing Earth Kingdom clothing like now, especially with her wide brimmed hat, but she couldn't risk it.

Five minutes. It was five minutes before anyone showed up to take her order, and she had just zoned out and was staring across the room at a girl with chipped teeth when the voice of the server cut into her daydream, soft and scratchy. "Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. Are you ready to order?"

There was something vaguely familiar about that voice but she couldn't quite place it. She looked up and...

...Froze.

Well, Agni.

She hadn't seen Zuko since the Agni Kai. Father hadn't even let her visit him when he was in the castle infirmary, and she had hardly been tempted. The malicious brat she was back then had been almost gleeful that her older brother had got what was coming to him.

So she had never seen Zuko's scars. But she had pictured them, had seen pictures drawn of him by those who had seen, had heard the descriptions in great detail. It had all come down to something vaguely the shape and color of the reddish knotting on this particular server's face.

Of course, that didn't matter. She would have known him anywhere just by his eyes.

She couldn't breathe.

The server, who seemed to have been hardly paying attention until now, frowned. "Miss? Are you okay?" He reached forward, gently but casually, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Breathe."

Zuko's voice. She had forgotten what it sounded like.

But did he honestly not recognize her?

She dropped her gaze to the floor immediately, pushed her hat further down. Not even sure what she was doing, but. This was big. Huge.

She wasn't ready for this confrontation right now.

She mumbled, "A cup of ginseng, please."

Pulling his hand away, the server (Zuko!) nodded. "Any cream or sugar? Or anything on the side? Cream and sugar come free, a roll will cost extra."

The words rolled out of his mouth far too easily. How long had Zuko been working here? How long had her supposedly dead brother been hiding right under her nose?

And why?

"Just the tea, please," she mumbled. Praying he wouldn't recognize her voice. She wasn't ready for this, she wasn't ready...

He nodded and walked off, stopping at another table on the way. Because he was asking the customers if they needed anything else. Because he was a server. In a tea shop.

Except he was Zuko.

Azula pinched the bridge of her nose, hard. Then she stood up and calmly walked out of the shop before he could return with the tea.

A fine way to destress, this afternoon had been.

/.../.../

She didn't return to the Jasmine Dragon right away.

Instead, she spent the entire night hyperventilating and trying to figure out just how Zuko could be Not Dead. That was...

Well, it wasn't exactly a bad thing.

When she'd heard about the pirate attack that had culminated in his demise, she had expected, at first, to be happy. After all, it meant there was one less obstacle between her and the position of Firelord. And she and Zuko had never been exactly close, even as children. In the two years of his exile, they had never once exchanged letters, and she had never wished for his return.

But as the months had passed, and it had slowly sunk in that Zuko was really gone, she had not been as happy as she had expected. In fact, she grew to realize that even her original tenuous happiness had been more amusement, expecting that sooner or later her troublesome brother would show up and it was best to enjoy his disappearance while she could. Zuko being gone permanently didn't give her any satisfaction at all.

She had begun to daydream, instead of scenarios where she became firelord, scenarios where Zuko returned after all, even if they ended with him regaining the throne. He would walk back into her life with a scowl on his face, asking how she could ever have thought him dead, have thought him so weak as to die dishonored. The brother she had grown up with would not have been able to stomach such a thing.

And yet, after this afternoon, it would appear that Zuko had been able to stomach giving up on reclaiming his honor after all.

Well, six years could change a person.

Maybe it would be best to let it be. After all, if he had changed so much as to be content serving tea in the city she governed, he was no longer the boy she had grown up with. Barely her brother anymore. Probably he didn't go by the name Zuko. Certainly he would no longer think of himself as a prince of the Fire Nation. It would be a miracle if he even thought about Azula anymore, except as the governor of Ba Sing Se.

Azula turned over and over in bed that night, her restlessness still no match for the turmoil in her head. She wouldn't raise much of a fuss, of course. No need to bother Ty Lee or Mai, or notify the Dai Li, or make things messy. But as for herself...

Well, if Zuko didn't want to talk to her he should have hidden himself better. And that was that.

/.../.../

The Jasmine Dragon, no matter how well it had hidden two Fire Nation nobles over the years, was far too public a place for the kind of conversation Azula was planning with course, she could be discreet about it herself, but knowing Zuko (at least, knowing the boy Zuko used to be) he might very well end up screaming at her or fleeing the scene altogether. She didn't want to cause a commotion.

So she took time off her very important governing to do a job she would usually have left to the Dai Li: tailing.

Zuko and Iroh's apartment, when she found it, was humble but not miserable. It was small but solid stone, and large enough for two if not overly generous. It was oddly cluttered, considering the pair couldn't possibly have been living there for more than four years, the time when Zuko had (not?) died and Iroh had vanished, but then Iroh had always been oddly fond of knickknacks for such a peaceful and detached man.

It had a large fireplace, which made Azula sigh in relief-they hadn't been utterly neglecting their heritage, then-but Iroh lit the fire using matches every night. Had either of them firebended in the past four years? Azula wasn't sure. She couldn't catch them doing it, but Zuko sat far closer to the fire than would have suited an Earth citizen's comfort.

So he hadn't forgotten.

Now she had to know whether he had forgotten her. Arranging that took a couple weeks. It seemed that Zuko was never alone. When Iroh wasn't in the apartment, there were always odd Earth citizens popping up, visitors that seemed to be friendly with Zuko and called him Lee. She eavesdropped to catch their names: Jet, Longshot, Smellerbee, Jin, Pao, Quon, and many others. When had Zuko become so social?

It was probably Iroh's fault.

But she had to speak to Zuko alone. Iroh would no doubt have a better, more coherent explanation for the situation, but they'd never exactly been close. And he was also more likely to hide information than Zuko, or at least more likely to hide it successfully.

So she played a little dirty.

There was one day of the year that Azula knew for sure Iroh and Zuko would be receiving no visitors. No, Iroh, if not Zuko, would desperately need to be alone on this day at least, especially since they were staying in Ba Sing Se of all places. And that was the anniversary of the death of Lu Ten. Zuko's cousin. Iroh's son.

Iroh spent the day off walking through the city, leaving the apartment in the early morning. Zuko had the day off too-it was one of the only days the Jasmine Dragon was actually closed-but instead of going walking he was sitting alone in his room, legs crossed and eyes closed. Meditating. Another Fire Nation habit he clearly had kept.

So she broke into the apartment as quietly as possible and stole up to sit in front of him. His eyes were still closed. She broke the silence. "Afternoon, Zuko."

Zuko's eyes flew open. He didn't move to attack, as she had half expected him to (and her own muscles were tensed and ready to restrain him so they wouldn't begin the sort of flashy fight that would attract the Dai Li) but rather just stared at her for a moment, his mouth slightly open.

"It's me, Azula," she said. Her clothes were green, and it had been six years after all. Perhaps he didn't recognize her. "Your sister, remember? Your mean liar of a sister?" She smiled. "It's been quite a while."

"Azula," he said. Then, "Of course I know you. How did you find us?"

"I visited the Jasmine Dragon a few weeks ago," Azula said. "You didn't recognize me then. I almost didn't recognize you, I'll admit. I watched you for a while, to make sure it was you. And now I've come to pay my respects."

Silence reigned.

"Since you work in a teashop now, I don't suppose you could make me some tea?" Azula said. "We need to have a talk."

Zuko nodded. Mechanically, he shuffled off to the kitchen and put a kettle of water on the stove.

Azula followed him. She said, "You don't need a stove to warm water, Zuko."

Instead of taking the hint, he left the kettle where it was and crossed his arms. "What are you doing here, Azula?"

Down to business right away. Yes, it was Zuko. "I wanted to see you. See, the last I heard, you were dead. I was hoping for some explanations."

"If you try to arrest me or Uncle, you'll get a fight."

"I'm not here to arrest anyone. I just have questions."

Zuko scowled. He always did hate when he wasn't in control of a situation. "Well, I didn't die. But Uncle and I could tell that Zhao was out to kill me, and he had more men than we did." He shrugged. "And it was getting more and more obvious that Father didn't want me home."

"So you just gave up," Azula said.

"We decided to start over. In a place where no one knew anything about us, where no one could judge. We thought we'd be safe from the Fire Nation, too, until you showed up."

"Well," Azula said. "I'm sorry my invasion was inconvenient." She crossed her arms too. Of course it wasn't like she expected Zuko to appreciate her achievements-after all, he'd always been jealous-but still, for him to complain about her presence in the city, one of her greatest accomplishments in her life, was just about enough.

She said, "The Zuko I knew would never have given up on coming back."

"I'm not the Zuko you knew," Zuko said shortly.

"I liked him better."

"Lying again," Zuko said. "You always hated me."

No. It was Zuko who had hated Azula, not the other way around. Zuko who'd been jealous, who had never respected her abilities, never acknowledged her. Zuko who had been disgusted even at the games she would play with Mai and Ty Lee (which did, of course get brutal at times, but she always knew they could take it) and who thought she was a monster. And it was she who had always strived for his approval and never received it, as he only ever tried to please Father.

At least, that was how she remembered it.

But then, sometimes she would even lie to herself. And so she did not argue.

"Do you intend to remain here?" she asked.

"What's it to you?" Zuko said. "If you aren't going to arrest us."

"I might visit again," Azula said. "I am your sister after all."

"Do as you please," Zuko said. "It's your city, remember?" His lip curled.

The water in the kettle was boiling. Zuko poured a cup of tea for Azula and for himself. Neither of them drank.

Azula said, "It's all very well to hide, but you might at least reveal yourself to Mai. She still misses you."

"Better to have a clean cut," Zuko said. "I can't come back."

"She was in love with you," Azula said. "I used to think you loved her back."

Zuko shook his head. "That's not my life anymore. I..." He sighed. "I have a girlfriend, Azula. Her name's Jin; I met her at the teashop. If you've been watching me I expect you've seen her."

"Does she even know you're Fire Nation?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not Fire Nation anymore."

Azula drank her tea quietly, eyes down. Then, putting the teacup down with a clink, she said, "I'd better be going. I have a city to run, you know."

"Of course."

"But I'll see you again."

"Great."

"Don't run," Azula said. "It would be stupid. And I'd find you." Now that she knew he was alive, she'd never stop looking if he disappeared again.

Zuko scowled but nodded.

Azula nodded back. "You can tell uncle I dropped by."

Perhaps the next time she visited them, she could just stop at the Jasmine Dragon and have a nice talk. Perhaps without a throne between them, she and Zuko could finally get along.

Azula doubted it, but you had to start somewhere.

/.../.../

AN: This story was written for the prompt of two characters meeting in a café. I think it was probably supposed to be romantic and fluffy rather than familial and serious, but all prompts are what you make them. And Azula and Zuko actually getting along is one of my favorite things.

In other news, I've finished the current draft of my novel. Expect a brief wave of fresh fanfiction from this direction.

Oh, and reviews are always appreciated.


End file.
